Allegory of the Cave/Truman Show Analysis

Allegory of the Cave/Truman Show Limited Knowledge, truth (or revelation), reality, and idealism are some of the common themes expressed in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and the film “The Truman Show.” The differences can be found in the way Plato allows some of the prisoners to remain unknowing, by giving them an almost fear-like stance involving the truth of their world, and how to free themselves. Another is that the “false” world is created on different premises, either to create a safe an ideal environment, or merely to only allow the characters to think their world is ideal (both treat those involved like a science experiment). Both of these stories, however, have a similar plot in that they keep the subjects having very limited knowledge, living in an almost ideal world. These subjects are then meant to seek truth in the reality of life, rather than in what they experienced thus far throughout their lives. This could possibly be implying that you may only truly believe in reality if you’ve experienced an event firsthand, rather than by methods of learning similar to secondhand knowledge. In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, the prisoners are kept chained to a wall, with only shadow puppets on the opposite wall to act as a representation of the “real” world. This will eventually cause the subjects to firmly believe that the limited experiences and knowledge they are allowed to have IS their real world. Due to the prisoners only being given select “life” showings, a feeling of restless desire for the truth is created. This in turn causes the escape of one prisoner into the light, or the actual world. This is another point where this Allegory varies from the film, because now to this escaped prisoner, the actual world, or reality, is the ideal world, because what is seen in the visible realm, with light to guide the senses, will undoubtedly represent all of the fantasies that are newly thought up in comparison to the old lifestyle. In the Truman Show, Truman...

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When watching The TrumanShow, a viewer who is familiar with Plato's Allegory of the Cave will naturally start to see similarities between the two. The characters in The TrumanShow can easily be assigned a roles within Plato's Allegory of the Cave. Truman experiences a long overdue ascent to knowledge throughout the movie, after having the seeds for this growth planted years. After he is awakened, the truth begins continually flooding in and Truman can no longer stay in the dark. The final culmination of The TrumanShow comes only after Truman faces his greatest fear, in pursuit of the truth.
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Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” presents a visualization of people who are slaves that have been chained in front of a fire their whole lives. These people observe the shadows of different things shown on the cave wall that is in front of them. The shadows are the only “reality” the slaves know. This is because they have never seen anything else to compare them to. Plato argues that there is a critical flaw in how people mistake their limited perceptions as reality, as truth, and as what they believe to be what is good. The allegory reveals how the flaw affects our education, our spirituality, and our politics. The flaw that Plato speaks about is how people trust what they see and think it is real.
In The Allegory of the Cave, the slaves in the caves know that the shadows, shown on the wall by the fire behind them, are real. If they were to talk to the shadows echoes would make the shadows appear to talk back. To the slaves, as Plato puts it, “the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images….” The allegory also talks about how a slave is later brought out of the cave, in what Plato refers to as “the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world.” Once out of the cave, the slaves discover that what they thought was real is not....

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The prisoners in the cave watching their lives unfold on the cave wall in front of them represent us as Americans in society today. The fear that the prisoners have to break free of the chains that bind them to the cave represent us and our fear of change or not fitting in with the people around us. For instance, take money and what a certain person in this country may or may not be able to afford as an example. We tend to spend the money that we do not have on things like clothes, vacations, and houses. One may not be able to afford the fancy car that everyone else around them seems to be driving but the fear of being judged by the car they can afford...

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Plato writes about Socrates describing a scene where there are chained people in a dark cave. They have been there since their childhood and they can barely move their heads. Behind them, at the distance, there is a blazing fire, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a wall meant for objects to...

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When "The TrumanShow" was released in 1998, it was just another popular Hollywood flick, but its story is closely related to Plato's "Allegory of the Cave." The plot line for the movie follows this classic tale in many ways, some more obvious then others. As with most cinematic treachery, the movie's similarities are no coincidence. The writers drew from Plato's classic because it is such a universal story and is something that everyone can relate to in some way. When the film was released, the general viewing public didn't attend the theater with the intent to analyze and critique the film in relation to an ancient, revered, and highly intellectual tale. Rather, they attended in order to gain a laugh or two from Jim Carey's psychotic antics; but, many of the ancient and universal thoughts and ideals can be skimmed from this Hollywood piece.
In Plato's "Allegory of the Cave," the ideas that present themselves in "The Trumanshow" are described in detail. The idea that we are all interpreting a shadow as reality, and that when we see reality for the first time we don't believe it to be true. And the fact that after we have seen reality, the shadows, that we used to believe in, don't satisfy us anymore. In Plato's story...

...around us. Plato in his ‘Allegory of the Cave’ contends that the world of the senses is a world of delusion; and a correct philosopher must see through this illusion to the truth. Socrates stated when defending his right to theorize, that an unexamined life is not worth living, stating the position of trying to gain a true concept of reality and the world around oneself. This significant theoretical belief is apparent in the 1998 film ‘The TrumanShow.’ In which the main protagonist, Truman Burbank, has lived his entire life as the star of a reality television show. The show is displayed to a worldwide audience, twenty four hours and seven days a week. From the moment of his birth, he is unaware that his reality, the world around him, is merely an extravagant set; his coworkers, mother, wife and friends are all played by actors and his life is controlled by the director of the show ‘Christof.’ Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” and “The Trumanshow” suggests that everyone’s perception of reality is different, and it depends on the environment or the world view you are bred in, however when an individual starts to question everything they are trying to determine whether the world around them is real or not by doubting in their personal relationships and investigating the surroundings around them making oneself...

...that philosophy brings to light, which can make a man ignorant and naïve. Philosophers take on the responsibility of sharing their knowledge with others, but truly grasping this knowledge requires accepting the wrong that one may have believed to be true and correct his whole life which goes against human nature. All human beings want to gain knowledge, but doing so may present the task of admitting personal mistakes and misconceptions. The Allegory of the Cave parallels Socrates’ struggle, as a philosopher, to enlighten the ignorant people in the world through his teachings of truth and happiness, only to be bitterly rejected by the ignorant skeptics of his time.
It is human nature for human beings to reject change, which brings upon ignorance from lack of knowledge. Prisoners have been held captive in the cave “from their childhood, and having their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads” (Jowett 316). These prisoners in the darkness of the cave represent all of the ignorant people that do not know anything other than what they have been told their whole lives. These people do not have opinions of their own, nor have they been given the opportunity to experience life for themselves because they have been told what to believe since they were born. Socrates says: “To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing...

...Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" - Analysis and Summary
The "Allegory of the Cave" by Plato represents an extended metaphor that is to contrast the way in which we perceive and believe in what is reality. The thesis behind his allegory is the basic opinion that all we perceive are imperfect "reflections" of the ultimate Forms, which subsequently represent truth and reality. In his story, Plato establishes a cave in which prisoners are chained down and forced to look upon the front wall of the cave. In "Allegory of the Cave" there there are two elements to the story; the fictional metaphor of the prisoners, and the philosophical opinion in that the allegory is supposed to represent, hence presenting us with the allegory itself.
The complex meanings that can be perceived from the "Cave" can be seen in the beginning with the presence of the prisoners who are chained in the darkness of the cave. The prisoners are bound to the floor and unable to turn their heads to see what goes on behind them. To the back of the prisoners, lie the puppeteers who are casting the shadows on the wall, which the prisoners are perceiving as reality.
As Socrates is describing the cave and the situation of the prisoners, he conveys the point that the prisoners would be fundamentally...